A Sign of the Times: Going to the Dogs- actually- Chihuahuas

Talking dogs are the king of the box office.

It’s a sign of the times.

For the second week in a row “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” beat out all other competitors in the box office sweepstakes, grossing $17 million for a total take of $52 million.

All from a movie that would not even allow reviewers to screen it before its debut last week (usually done when a movie is supposed to get terrible reviews- which it did.)

But who cares about reviews? The financial system is collapsing so Americans want their talking dogs.

It impressively beat out “Body of Lies”, the Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe movie that was getting buzz. Shockingly, Body of Lies only came in third on the weekend, with a miserable $13.1 million (does that even pay Crowe or DiCaprio???)

If you don’t know, Body of Lies is about Middle East terrorism.

Yep- something the public wants to see right about now. Makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Americans Escape to the Movies

Americans tend to go to the movies when they’re trying to escape. According to the LA Times, ticket sales were up 6% this weekend compared to a year ago.

That trend has played out during other times of crisis as well. From the LA Times:

People remember 1987 as the year the stock market suffered its largest one-day loss on Black Monday, Oct. 19. But the following weekend, with “Fatal Attraction” and “The Princess Bride” in theaters, ticket sales were up nearly 20% from the previous weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there was so much concern that people would stop spending money that President Bush urged people to go out and buy things. Yet the weekend after Sept. 11 saw a 43% jump in ticket sales over the same weekend in 2000, despite a roster of quickly forgotten films such as Keanu Reeves’ baseball tale, “Hardball.” The next year, 2002, set the record for film attendance with nearly 1.6 billion tickets.

So the next time you’re stressing about your bills, the mortgage crisis, the financial chaos, the rescue plan and whatever else is going on…just let yourself go to the dogs.

You won’t be sorry.